Doerge Is A Rhodes Scholarship Finalist

Ella Doerge ‘10, a genetics major from Clive, Iowa, has been selected as a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship and will travel to Houston Friday (Nov. 20) to participate in selection interviews. If chosen as a Rhodes Scholar, Ella will in a select group of the nation’s 32 most outstanding college students.

A member of the Texas A&M Women’s Swimming & Diving team, she is a First Team Academic All-Big XII selection and ranks in the Texas A&M all-time top 10 times in five different events. This past summer, she qualified for the US National Championships and World Championship Trials. An Honors Programs University Scholar, Ella was also the Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Junior from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and she is an officer for WorldMed, a student organization that organizes international medical missions. This past summer, she conducted research in bovine genetics. Her long term interests are to attend medical school and study prenatal genetics. If selected as a Rhodes Scholar, Ms. Doerge will study for a Master of Science in Clinical Embryology at Oxford University.

The Rhodes Scholarships, the oldest international fellowships, were initiated after the death of Cecil Rhodes in 1902, and bring outstanding students from many countries around the world to the University of Oxford. The primary qualification for a successful candidate is intellectual distinction, although the selection committees also seek excellence in qualities of mind and in qualities of person which, in combination, offer the promise of effective service to the world in the decades ahead. Through the years, Rhodes Scholars have pursued studies in all of the varied fields available at the University of Oxford, where they are elected for two years of study, with the possibility of renewal for a third year. Notable Rhodes Scholars include former US President Bill Clinton, NBA Hall-of-Fame inductee and Senator Bill Bradley, and Country Music Hall of Fame Inductee Kris Kristofferson.

Texas A&M has produced seven Rhodes Scholars in its history, with the earliest dating back to 1922. The most recent Aggie Rhodes Scholar was Nick Anthis ’05, who recently completed his doctorate at Oxford and is not completing a post-doctorate fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.